I Get a Little Help From My Friends

Thursday, January 19, 2017

We've all been there, whether by seeing it in a movie, reading it in a book, or experiencing it in your favorite tabletop adventure: the protagonists stride into the throne room, where the regal monarch greets them and says, “Hail, noble adventurers. Long have I sought heroes to assist me with this plot hook, and you may be the saviors I need.” That treatment may work well in a European-fantasy setting awash with minor kingdoms and desperate NPCs, but in Qadira, everyone knows somebody; there's rarely any need for a regional governor to rely on some no-name group of 9th-level adventurers, much less have any motivation to entrust them with important tasks. Whether one's the soul of courtesy or a boor busting into a trade prince's parlor demanding news of the nearest dungeon, an unknown adventurer's almost certain to receive the same response: “Who the hell are you?”

While Jessica Price was writing Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Qadira, Jewel of the East, we began discussing the importance of one's status through citizenship, family, and social connections—everything from selling a goods without a license, to choosing a spouse, to arranging a meeting, to traveling the roads without paying tolls. That was all well and good for citizens, but we knew that for Qadira to be a fun adventuring location, it needed to be accessible to foreign PCs. If an adventurer isn't born into Qadiran society, how can he access its wonders? Patronage. With the right friend, doors both figurative and literal open for the PCs. After we had nerded out about Roman patronage for a while, Jessica exclaimed what we were both thinking (and I give you the direct quote): GAMIFY SOCIAL CLIMBING. The honor system in Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Campaign gave us a starting point, but the more we brainstormed how Qadira's social mobility worked, the more we realized we needed something tied less to the client and more to the patron herself. The patronage system was born.

Illustration by Anson Tan

Qadira, Jewel of the East dedicates four pages to the patronage system, which provides a mechanical framework for a client (either a PC or the entire party) to earn social credit (Clout) with a patron. Each patron has a certain amount of influence (Rank, ranging from 1 to 10), holds power in a certain sphere within the society (Category), feels a certain way toward the client (Disposition), and may know other equally powerful people in other social spheres (Affiliation). As a PC performs tasks in a patron's name, he earns Clout that he can spend on improving the patron's disposition or buying favors. The trick is that relative social status plays a significant role in who talks to whom, so a tourist stands almost no chance of arranging a meeting with the satrap; in game terms, one's starting Clout depends heavily on the patron's rank and the PC's ranks in the patron's favorite skills, and if that calculation results in 0 Clout or less, the prospective client had better supply a really nice gift or suffer being ignored.

Patrons are the key to success in Qadira. The right patron can not only provide the PCs with a critical lead on a lucrative adventure site, but she can also help outfit them from her personal stockpiles, secure them access to restricted areas, and then spread word of their deeds. Of course, this is a two-way street; if a PC intends to earn that Clout, he must perform favors for the patron, help her earn prestige by having sponsored a successful hero, and avoid embarrassing her. The patronage system includes a wealth of suggested ways one can earn and lose Clout, including methods unique to different patron categories (e.g. attending a major social event for a social patron or recovering a major relic for a religious patron). Perhaps my favorite little feature is the list of additional patron qualities that modify the patronage system in little ways to fit a patron's positive and negative qualities. If the PC intends to keep climbing the social ladder, though, his patrons can be of further service, granting him a reliable introduction to higher-ranked patrons that had previously ignored him. A sword-swinging warrior can find a home in any campaign, but in Qadira, a PC who plays the system right could secure unfettered access to the empire's wonders, the ear of any celebrity, and a marriage proposal to one of the satrap's cousins—all by knowing who's who and how to befriend them. I like to think that in a Qadiran campaign, playing a social climber could be just as important a party role as that of a healer or trapsmith.

What you'll find in this book is designed for Qadira but is easily adaptable for other regions and settings by renaming a few titles or adding a new category. Since I spend most of my time working on the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild campaign, I thought it fitting to include an informal patron stat block for several of the Pathfinder Society's most reliable contacts in Qadira.

Trade Prince Aaqir al'Hakam (Season 8)
N male human
Rank 6 mercantile patron
Key Skills Appraise and Profession (merchant)
Affiliation none
Additional Qualities deep pockets

Venture-Captain Esmayl ibn Qaradi (Season 8)
NG male human
Rank 4 academic patron
Key Skills Knowledge (geography) and Knowledge (history)
Affiliations political, social
Additional Qualities well-connected

Eurdan Stonemantle (Season 6)
NG male oread
Rank 4 tribal patron
Key Skills Sense Motive and Survival
Affiliation none
Additional Qualities none

Pasha Muhlia Al-Jakri (As of Season 2)
NE female human
Rank 5 political patron
Key Skills Bluff and Knowledge (nobility)
Affiliations mercantile and military
Additional Qualities jaded

Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Qadira, Jewel of the East hits shelves in less than a week! Grab a copy, and turn your setting's political landscape into the PCs' playground.

John Compton
Pathfinder Society Lead Developer

Qadira: These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Friday, January 6, 2017

Very soon, dear readers, copies of Qadira: Jewel of the East will be in your hands (or available to be in your hands, if you're not a subscriber), so this seems like an excellent time to list off my ten favorite things about Qadira and/or this book. Behold:

1. The "Adventuring In Qadira" section: These 24 pages of mysteries, perils, ancient secrets, and general weirdness give glimpses of locations like the razor-edged obsidian labyrinth of the Lady of the Burnt Lands; Ihalar, a massive underground city; Ushumgal, a banking center probably run by bronze dragons; the deadly ruins of Qumarin, from which explorers emerge blinded, their faces branded with wheels of wings, eyes, and fire; and the Tower of Winds, set among a sea of colorful grasses haunted by strange beings who ask visitors a single question to which there is no correct answer. There's also a lot more detail about sites we've mentioned before, like the harpy-haunted ruins of Al-Bashir, the military training grounds of Omash, and the twisted gnoll settlement of Shadun.

2. My favorite piece of art ever: Look at this gloriousness. It's the adventurer equivalent of having your cat sleeping on your keyboard when you need to get work done. The poor lady just wants to figure out where these tracks go, and her lion animal companion is demanding that she play with him NOW.

Illustration by Lance Red

3. John Compton's patronage system: In Qadira, getting ahead is all about who you know and what they can do for you. John has put together a brilliant system for navigating the currents of Qadiran society, gaining access to the elite, and benefitting from your connections.

4. Keleshite ethnicities: Did you think "Keleshite" described a single culture or people? If you did, that's understandable—that's what most people from Avistan think, too. But the Padishah Empire of Kelesh is home to many different peoples and cultures, making "Keleshite" more of an umbrella term, like "Avistani" or "Tian," than a specific ethnicity like "Ulfen" or "Shoanti." Learn about the six major cultures that formed the Empire, as well as close to a dozen ethnic minorities common in Qadira. There are also details about how non-humans and different classes fit into Qadiran society, from tieflings pretending to be emberkin aasimars to Paraheen dwarf weaponsmiths, and Taldan brawlers to the pyrokineticists of the Imperial Forces.

5. This other piece of art, which is also my favorite piece of art ever: It's a CYCLOPS WITH A MIGRAINE. I empathize so much, buddy.

Illustration by Eric Kenji

6. Horses! If you like playing mounted characters, especially if you like playing mounted characters who ride horses, you're going to want this book. From new tricks for your horse animal companion, to genie-touched horses with elemental powers, to information on the horse-breeding tribes of Al-Zabrit and their unique cavalier order, this book is packed with goodies for riders.

7. The clothes: There are so many well-dressed people in these pages. Look at this magnificently attired guy. Even his horse is dapper as hell.

Illustration by Anson Tan

8. Creepy desert fey: I'm not going to spoil it, but it's about time we had one of these.

9. Sunsinger skalds: I know, you hear "skald" and you think "Viking bard," right? Well, everything's different in the desert, and skalds there channel the powers of fire and sunlight in service of the goddess Sarenrae. Oh, and there's also a solar sorcerer bloodline. Qadira has a lot of people who are ON FIRE: both in the sense of being badass, and also literally on fire.

10. Kelish: While working out names for places and people in Qadira, I put together a phonology document to ensure consistency (and to help me figure out ways to suggest layers of history with names that didn't follow those conventions). That document turned into a lexicon, and eventually into a reference grammar for the Kelish language. I could geek out about it for 10,000 more words or so, but instead, I'll just note that it drops the copula in the present tense, has a triconsonantal root system (like Arabic, Hebrew, etc.), and lacks grammatical gender (like Turkish).

Bonus: Introduction to Kelish

Kelish started out as a trade language: early Keleshite merchants realized that their tongue, now known as Old Keleshite, was proving an impediment to spreading their influence, due to sounds non-native speakers found difficult and grammatical features they found baffling. So they created a simplified and more regular form of the language, with phonology more similar to that of common tongues outside of Casmaron and with more regular grammar. Old Keleshite is still used in religious ceremonies and among some of the more isolated desert tribes, but these days, almost everyone in Kelesh speaks Kelish as their native tongue.

Like many Semitic languages, Kelish is written using an abjad rather than an alphabet (which is to say it's written using only consonants). Many consonants have both a "soft" and a "hard" version (e.g. a single consonant can be pronounced either as b or as v depending on context). The transliterations below are simplified and may not reflect the way the word would be spelled in Kelish script.

Kelish pronunciation: Kelish has six vowel sounds, five of which (a, e, i, o, u, which are pronounced similarly to Romance language vowels) have long and short versions. The sixth is found in unstressed syllables and can be either pronounced as a schwa sound or left silent. It has a few consonants that differ from their English pronunciations. The kh sound is pronounced like the ch in the German pronunciation of Bach, or the Scottish loch. The r sound is trilled, as in Spanish or Italian, but also exists in a "softened" version (usually transliterated rh or gh), which is pronounced like the French r. An apostrophe (') indicates a glottal stop.

Stress generally falls on the final syllable of the word. Stress on non-final syllables is indicated in the transliterations below with a doubled consonant after the lengthened vowel. (adirah is pronounced ah-dee-RAH, but aninnu is pronounced ah-NEE-nu.)

Greetings

Hello
adirah
(ah-dee-RAH)

Goodbye
baraqqti bshlim (lit. "go in peace")
(ba-RAHK-tee bsh-LEEM)

Poems/Prayers/Idioms

Dawn will come.
lehibwa'ah fishereqel
(leh-hee-bwah-AH fee-sheh-reh-KEL)

Sunlight banishes lies.
li'ekhrabah mutzeirnil et drejem (lee-ehkh-rah-BAH moo-tzeh-ee-MEEL eht dray-JEM)

We are not strangers, for our hearts are old friends.
aninnu la reyevem, qaru qelebeiniannu ekhum qidumum
(ah-NEEN-oo lah reh-yay-VEHM, kah-ROO keh-lay-bay-ee-nee-AH-noo eh-KHOOM kee-doo-MOOM)

Hold my wine and watch this!
bashaddti et yenananni w ri'oyeti et eleh
(bah-SHAD-tee eht yey-na-NAHN-ee wuh reeh-oh-yeh-TEE eht eh-LAY)

Useful Phrases for People Who Annoy You

Be quiet. I haven't had my coffee yet.
batallti. la halli lishqai et kahvenni udina
(bah-TAHL-tee. lah HAH-lee leesh-kie (like "die") oo-dee-NAH)

No horse will carry you.
ianu shisah illi lihi'enubshadah et atah
(ee-ah-NOO shee-SAH EE-lee lee-HEEH-eh-noob-shah-DAH eht ah-TAH)

May you fall in love with a genie.
deyah akhalkhallti et jani'ah
(day-YAH ah-khal-KHAL-tee eht jah-neeh-AH)

I hope you've enjoyed this peek at Qadira: Jewel of the East. Stay tuned for more previews, including a glimpse of the patronage system!

Jessica Price
Project Manager

The Shadows Know!

Friday, February 12, 2016

Shadow is a more than a mere absence of light in Golarion. It's a fundamental force, no weaker than the elemental energies, no less vast than the ethereal or astral planes, and far more common in everyday life than any of those esoteric materials. The Shadow Plane is a physical place, a colorless realm that serves as a dark reflection of the Material Plane, and its existence can mold and shape those within it. The fetchlings who dwell there are the descendants of Azlanti refugees, who over generations have been altered by constant exposure to its planar power until they are no longer truly human. Conversely, the wayang found on the Material Plane have been changed by their lack of access to the Shadow Plane, their pathways between their new lands and their original homes destroyed when the sun returned and the Age of Darkness ended.

Illustration by Anson Tan

The deepest shadow, of course, is total darkness. Such lightless realms may lack the planar power of shadow, but within the darkness other powers over move about unseen and unfettered. It was in the darkness of the Darklands that a group of elves fleeing the destruction of Earthfall became vulnerable to demonic influence, and in time so corrupted themselves and their society that they became something wholly different than elves. The drows' transformation may not have involved direct exposure to the power of a plane, but it remains a testament to the power of the shadowed places.

Illustrations by Tawny Fritzinger and Marjorie Davis

These then—drow, fetchling, and wayang—are the races that receive the most focus of Player Companion: Blood of Shadows. Some examination is given to how the rest of Golarion treats those tied to shadow, with discussion of shadowy origin stories (from benign envoy to umbral operative). The idea of the taint of shadow reaching beyond these races is explored with darkborn and shadowborn alternate racial traits. Then in the sections dedicated to each race, the options players often look at to customize their characters are expanded, with favored class bonuses, alternate racial traits, and sometimes racial feats. Some idea of how these cultures handle core roles differently is revealed with common archetypes that can be traced back to these races (though now generally also available to a few beyond the originator societies), ranging from the shadow-themed rogue talents developed by the fetchlings, to the shadow ink tattoos and shadow mysteries once exclusive to the wayang.

Feast of Rats

Price 45,125 GP

Slot none CL 19th Weight varies

Aura strong evocation and illusion

A swarm of shadowy rats clump together to form this +1 stalking^UE light melee shadowcraft weapon. Three times per day, the wielder can throw the weapon into one square within 10 feet while speaking a command word, causing the weapon to disperse into a shadowy haze that functions as fog cloud. Each round, any creature within the fog cloud takes 1d6 points of damage and must succeed at a DC 19 Fortitude saving throw or become nauseated for 1 round. This effect lasts for 1 minute, after which the weapon returns to its previous form. Alternatively, any time before the effect's duration ends, the wielder can spend a move action while adjacent to the fog cloud to return the weapon to its previous form, dismissing the effect and returning the weapon to her hand.

A feast of rats can be used as an unholy symbol divine focus of Lao Shu Po, the Old Rat Woman.

Construction Requirements

Cost 22,712 GP

Craft Magical Arms and Armor, Create Reliquary Arms and Shields^UM, deeper darkness, fog cloud, major creation, shadow weapon^UM

Other shadow-themed characters are also given support in the form of archetypes, spells, and magic items. Morphing shadowform weapons, which range from humble weapon of solid shadow, to mighty reliquaries often carried by divine champions can be found in Blood of Shadows—including the more powerful weapon above!

Owen K.C. Stephens
Developer

Infernal Powers Are Rising—New Pathfinder Products Announced!

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Illustration by Kiki Moch Rizky

We've managed to defrost and awaken from the unexpected mid-winter hibernation of recap blogs to bring you the latest announcements and happenings for Pathfinder!

In January, we brought you the final volumes of the Hells Rebels Adventure Path, where the Kintargo Contract must be recovered to better civil order, and parties are sent to the depths of Hell to stop the world-gripping manifestations of Barzillai Thrune's evil plots. As we've said before, folks, DOWN WITH THRUNE!

Illustration by Anson Tan

... Except this time! Rise to the cause of the Thrice-Damned House of Thrune in the first volume of Hell's Vengeance, where as evil adventurers, you further the cause of the diabolical empire of Cheliax. Pathfinder Adventure Path #103: The Hellfire Compact is making it's way to subscribers as I type, and we have plenty to show you in the coming weeks about Hell's Vengeance.

February also has the following products hitting paizo.com and store shelves:

• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game—Class Deck: Barbarian
• Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Darklands Revisited
• Pathfinder Module: Down the Blighted Path
• Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of Shadows
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Bigger Tavern
• Pathfinder Map Pack: Urban Sites
• Pathfinder Pawns: Hell's Rebels Adventure Path Pawn Collection
• Pathfinder—Hollow Mountain #3

Spring, Summer, and Beyond!

Over the last month or so we've had a wave of exciting new announcements, including the next Pathfinder Roleplaying Game installment, Free RPG Day, and of course, our own convention, PaizoCon!. Check out what's been added to our schedule:

April 2016

• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Pathfinder Adventure Chest
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat Classics: River Crossing

June 2016

• Pathfinder Adventure Path #107: Scourge of the Godclaw
• Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Path of the Hellknight
• Pathfinder Module: We B4 Goblins!
• Pathfinder Player Companion: Spymaster's Handbook
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Bigger Dungeon
• Pathfinder Map Pack: Perilous Paths
• Pathfinder Tales: Liar's Bargain

July 2016

• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game—Class Deck: Goblins Fight!
• Pathfinder Adventure Card Game—Class Deck: Gunslinger
• Pathfinder Adventure Path #108: Hell Comes to Westcrown
• Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Hell's Vengeance Poster Map Folio
• Pathfinder Module: Gallows of Madness
• Pathfinder Player Companion: Legacy of Dragons
• Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Horror Adventures
• Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Lost City
• Pathfinder Pawns: Pathfinder Society Pawn Collection

And Beyond!

• Pathfinder Tales: Starspawn — August 2016
• Pathfinder Tales: Shy Knives — October 2016
• Pathfinder Tales: Reaper's Eye — December 2016

I'm sure folks noticed the lack of Ultimate Intrigue in this blog post, but never fear! You'll learn all about the new vigilante class and iconic, mechanics, and systems soon on the Paizo blog!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

Down On Your Luck, Friend?

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

I know your sob story. It's written on your face, same as everyone else's. The world just rolled over and dumped you on your butt. Know you don't know how to get a roof and three squares without a coin in your pocket, and don't know how to put coin in your pocket without a good night's sleep and a full belly.

Luckily, we know all these things. Lots more of us than you, after all—all of us hungry and scraping but still getting by. We know what you can eat. Hell, we know who you can eat. The city streets aren't just a bunch of people; they're nature—screwed up, turned-around, greedy, grasping, vicious nature. You can be one of the lucky ones, riding on top of it all like princes in a yacht, thinking you're master of it all but never seeing a hint of what goes on for real. Or you can be like the rest of us: Down below, stinking of it and getting by like any other animal. You can be a deer or a squirrel, maybe, but I advise being a wolf, friend. Wolves don't come to such sudden and unpleasant ends. Ain't food for no one, except maybe those useless sorts who think they're on top, and you don't see their sort down here in the gutters so often.

Illustrations by Vicky Yarova and Anson Tan

We got a book right here: Make yourselves Heroes of the Streets. Blend in, bite back, and don't be anyone's meal ticket. Find a warm place to sleep and do it all again tomorrow. You can be scum like the rest of us—learn to be an Alley Witch, or a Street oracle, or a Slum Shaman—or sell your soul and work for the town guard as a Constable Cavalier or Lamplighter Investigator. The book don't care. You think you're too wild for the city? The book don't believe you. The book's seen Hunters and Bloodragers twist themselves—urbanize themselves—to fit this place before it ever saw the city twist itself to fit them. The book's got spells to make the best of the stunty little plants here and there, or to walk you big, mean monster pet right under a guard's nose. The book's got feats to help you get by in all the dark, forgotten bits every city seems to have. The book tells you where you people fit, so you can fit in with 'em, or spit in their eye for wiping you off their boots.

Coin Shot

School transmutation; Level alchemist 1, antipaladin 1, bard 1, bloodrager 1, magus 1, sorcerer/wizard 1
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components S
Range touch
Target up to three coins touched
Duration 10 minutes or until discharged
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance yes (harmless, object)

You turn up to three coins into deadly projectiles that gain the velocity of a bullet when thrown. The coins retain their normal appearance but can be used as simple thrown weapons with a range increment of 20 feet and a critical multiplier of ×2. The transmuted coins are treated as ammunition for the purposes of drawing them. Like firearm bullets, the coins deal bludgeoning and piercing damage, and attacks with them are resolved as touch attacks within the first range increment. Regardless of whether a transmuted coin hits or misses the target, it is destroyed after the attack. Only you can make attacks with the coins, though other creatures can safely handle them without discharging the spell.

You can make a single ranged attack with a coin as part of casting this spell. Different types of coins create different bullet effects. Copper coins deal 1d4 points of damage. Silver coins deal 1d6 points of damage and count as silver for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. Gold coins deal 1d8 points of damage and count as masterwork weapons. Platinum coins deal 1d10 points of damage, count as masterwork weapons, and are treated as adamantine weapons for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction and bypassing hardness. All coin bullets deal an additional 1 point of damage per 2 caster levels (to a maximum of an extra 10 points of damage at 20th level).

You think you've seen the worst the city has to offer? The book will teach you how to be the worst the city has to offer. It's short—just 32 pages—and easy to read. Just a few happy coins and the book is yours...

Crystal Frasier
Assistant Developer